I get stuck in ruts. In fact, before writing this article I was just scrolling youtube. Scrolling with a purpose? Nope. Just…you know….doom scrolling. Thankfully I caught myself and asked,, “why are you doing this?” I didn’t have a good answer, so here we are. I’m typing, you’re reading, and hopefully I get to something of value soon.
I think I have something….
Getting stuck in a rut is just a fancy way of saying I like the familiar.
But, can I be honest? I’m realizing the familiar is creative death.
Actually, can I take another run at that sentence? I don’t think I got it right the first time. Let’s workshop this thing together.
Familiarity isn’t creative death, BUT looking at something in a familiar way IS creative death. What do you think? Let me know in the comments. Could I put it another way?
Sometimes we have to force ourselves into new experiences. If you’re seeing something in the same way, it’s not firing those little unique-perspective engines.
I have my gym to thank for this realization. For the next two weeks my gym is getting remodeled. It’s covered in clear plastic tarps, and looks like a Dexter kill room. They’ve closed off my normal workout area. I didn’t know about the remodel, so when I arrived it was a surprise. It was new. I wasn’t looking at sometime familiar.
Wha? Where? Where do I go? How can I workout? I don’t have my normal little corner to jump on an elliptical, put my head down, and disappear. I couldn’t disappear. For the last 4 months the corner of the gym was my little oasis, the place I disconnected, and burned off some calories.
Well, they crammed some elliptical machines near the weights, and they asked us to survive over there. Same familiar gym, but I was looking at everything from a new area. It was a little weird.
It wasn’t my normal escape. I had to engage differently. I was in a new spot, on new machines, and I notice my brain responded. It was firing in new ways. This was a new pattern. I was uncomfortable because this wasn’t familiar. It was a jumpstart. I thought of new games, sketches and jokes. I had deep epiphanies like, “my butt is never going to look as good as Bob [name has been changed to protect the innocent and chiseled].”
It was a unique little reminder change is good.
I guess I knew that. I mean, people tell me, “change is good,” and they’re smart people, so I should believe them. Experiencing it, though, and catching yourself feeling different because you’ve mixed up the routine is something else entirely. It’s one thing to hear it, and it’s another to do it.
So….ummm….Paul….how does this relate to improv?
Well, I think we all have the opportunity to mix up our familiar choices. Do you support a scene? Start the next scene. Are you always the guesser in an improv game? Give clues next time. Do you always walk into an improv scene….what if you crawled? (By the way,....quick shoutout to Angie in at Improv Playground on Thursday. She sacrificed her body in a game of Fortune Teller, diving to the ground to sway and plod like an alligator. Great mime work…and a great reminder to use the vertical plane as well as a horizontal plane.)
When you challenge your familiar choices, you’ll be uncomfortable. That’s OK! I mean, within reason of course. I don’t want you freediving with Great Whites because “Paul said it’d be OK!” Challenge your norms within reason. You can revert back to the norm. The change isn’t permanent…and in fact…if it was permanent you’d just be introducing a new rut. You always have the option to change.
I think you’ll like the new choices. I don’t think anyone ever said, “damn, I really regret having this new perspective and all these new ideas.”
Hey…. shameless plug time baby! If you want to challenge yourself to some new improv games with the best improv community in the world you should join me for the Improv Playground. We currently offer classes in Roseville, and online sessions coming soon!